Flower Hair clips

I made these at a project night for a club of med student wives. Cute stuff. If only I could convince the Babe to keep them in her hair.

Garden!

I planted a garden! The husband built me two garden boxes last year, but I never got around to filling them with plants. I was a little distracted with a new baby. My first box has peas and strawberries.

Here are my peas. I'm so excited they're coming up!
Only 3 of my 10 strawberry plants have shown signs of life as of yet.
And that's it for now. I chose peas and strawberries because I'm moving in June. Hopefully I'll be able to reap the benefits of these crops. My second garden box will be flowers (Zinnias, Cosmos and maybe Lavender). I was planning on planting those seeds today, but I planted a baby in the dirt instead.

Plant a tree, save the world

Today was a busy day! Among the projects, I planted a tree...

made a card for work...
and baked and frosted cookies. I used my favorite sugar cookie recipe and a new frosting recipe here. It's ok, but a little too runny and blah. It needs extra flavor. I'll have to modify it next time.

What was that again?

"I quite agree with you," said the Duchess; "and the moral of that is--'Be what you would seem to be';--or, if you'd like it put more simply--'Never imagine yourself not to be otherwise than what it might appear to others that what you were or might have been was not otherwise than what you had been would have appeared to them to be otherwise.'"

"I think I should understand that better," Alice said very politely, "if I had it written down: but I can't quite follow it as you say it."

"That's nothing to what I could say if I chose," the Duchess replied, in a pleased tone.

"Pray don't trouble yourself to say it any longer than that," said Alice.

"Oh, don't talk about trouble!" said the Duchess. "I make you a present of everything I've said as yet."

~Lewis Carroll, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland

What the Crepe?

Yes, a stacked crepe cake. I found this recipe in my Christmas cookbook right after I got it and decided to make it when I had a good opportunity. Easter it was! Funny thing, over the past couple weeks, I've been seeing these crepe cakes everywhere! Mine wasn't quite as pretty as the pictures I've seen.

Meh, a little crooked, crepes not all the same size.... Cutting into it is much more impressive.

Pretty cool. It was tasty, but a little sweet for me. I also found the texture slightly unsatisfying. It was fun to make once, but the time it takes to make it again is probably not worth it to me.

Wish fulfillment

I got a sewing machine on Wednesday! You know what this means? More puppets! And now that I have it, I'm thinking of all sorts of clothing ideas, toys, quilts... But first, on my list is home improvements. You see, I need to make my home look pretty so someone will want to buy it. These are actually projects that I've been planning for years, but only now got to do them.

Commence project window valance:

I made two of these for my bedroom windows. Three or four years ago I bought two faux scarf valances like this picture, but quickly learned that they only look good in threes. I loved the fabric, though, so wanted to make something more suitable. Now I have! This was probably the most makeshift and imprecise process I've ever used, but with the final result you would never know. My husband calls me the MacGyver of quilting and that title really fit for this project.

Project sofa pillows (the brown ones):

The previous pillows were pretty flat and had ugly fabric. That's all I have to say about that. Pillows are easy peasy. (p.s. I love the husband's casual glance to the side and leg posed especially for the photo.)

I have one more room to fix curtains for and then I will be back on the puppet train. I'm so excited! I have some fun ones coming up.

Trim those windows!

We had our windows replaced last summer and the trim got all torn up when they removed the old storm windows. They've needed a good whitewashing, so I finally got around to it now that the weather's better.

Before (also note the railing):

After:

I only did the front of the house. Three windows and a railing down, four windows to go...